Vermont
New Vermont law requires fossil fuel industry to pay for ‘climate change’ damage – Washington Examiner
(The Center Square) – Vermont is the first state to enact a law requiring the fossil fuel industry to pay for “climate change cost recovery.”
The bill became law without Republican Gov. Philip Scott signing it. In a May 30 letter to the Vermont General Assembly, he explained why.
“Vermont – one of the least populated states with the lowest GDP in the country – has decided to recover costs associated with climate change on its own,” he said. Vermont’s gross domestic product last year was slightly more than $35 billion.
He admitted he was “deeply concerned about both short- and long-term costs and outcomes” and “fearful that if we fail in this legal challenge, it will set precedent and hamper other states’ ability to recover damages.”
But because Vermont’s attorney general and treasurer endorsed the law, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources [VANR] “is required to report back to the Legislature in January 2025 on the feasibility of this effort,” Scott said he was “comforted.” The VANR report will enable Vermont to “reassess our go-it-alone approach,” he said. “For these reasons, this bill will become law without my signature. I hope those who endorsed this policy will follow through.”
The law penalizes “any entity … that during … the covered period was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil” that VANR determined “is attributable to for more than one billion metric tons of covered greenhouse gas emissions.”
Instead of raising taxes, cutting spending, or allocating funds to cover extreme weather costs, the Vermont legislature created the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to charge the fossil fuel industry for its “Climate Change Adaptation Projects.” The projects were created “to respond to, avoid, … or adapt to negative impacts caused by climate change and assist human and natural communities, households, and businesses in preparing for future climate-change-driven disruptions.”
The projects include “flood protections; home buyouts; upgrading stormwater drainage systems, … roads, bridges, railroads, and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from extreme weather events; providing medical care … caused by … climate change; … sewage treatment plants; … energy efficient cooling systems; upgrading the electrical grid … including … self-sufficient microgrids; responding to toxic algae blooms; agricultural topsoil loss; threats to forests, farms, fisheries, and food systems,” among many others.
Entities VANR determines released more than one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from 1995 to 2024 will be required to pay Vermont a monetary amount it determines.
The legislature allocated $600,000 for VANR to conduct an analysis “that will need to withstand intense legal scrutiny from a well-funded defense, we are not positioning ourselves for success,” Scott said. “Taking on ‘Big Oil’ should not be taken lightly.”
“Climate superfund bills are another billionaire-backed attempt to decimate the American energy industry using unproven attribution science,” Mandi Risko, a spokesperson for Energy In Depth, an educational outreach campaign of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told The Center Square. “Just like climate litigation, these bills do little to advance real solutions and instead will raise prices on consumers by haphazardly penalizing a lawful and necessary industry on which we all depend.”
Western Energy Alliance president Katheleen Sgamma also raised concerns. “It seems very legally tenuous to go after companies located outside the state for supposed impacts from climate change which are diffuse globally and nonattributable to any particular company,” she told The Center Square.
“Climate scientists haven’t figured out a way to determine if weather events are related to human-caused climate change, so how will Vermont determine damages and which companies are responsible?” she asked. “But perhaps the biggest problem is that Vermont attempts to shift blame for the greenhouse gas emissions that the state and its citizens emit so that they can drive their cars, turn on the light switch, and heat their homes. They want all the benefits of oil and natural gas but none of the responsibility.”
Unlike Vermont, Texas’ legislature and governor have taken a different approach – fostering domestic production. Texas leads the U.S. in production and emissions reductions.
Texas’ oil and natural gas industry also paid a record more than $26.3 billion in taxes last fiscal year – nearly as much as Vermont’s GDP. It finances three state funds (public schools, highway maintenance and reserves) and pays hundreds of millions of dollars to counties.
“Unlike some other states, including Vermont, Texas elected officials practice critical thinking and understand the importance of maintaining a pro-business environment by adopting sensible, not ideological or politically motivated, energy policy,” Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, told The Center Square. “Texas continues to lead: providing access to affordable and reliable energy that fuels our state, country, and allies, from an economic and energy security perspective.”
The west Texas Permian Basin is leading in production and emissions reductions. As production increased by 416%, methane emissions intensity fell by nearly 85% over the same 10-year time-period. In 2022, the Permian reached its lowest methane intensity in a record production year, The Center Square first reported.
“These results are a testament to the dedication and innovation of the entire oil and gas industry, with Texas leading the way,” Longanecker said.
LONDONDERRY, Vt. – At a quick June 1 meeting, the Londonderry Selectboard heard from Trevor Powers, a member of the Londonderry Planning Commission, who discussed a few zoning bylaw proposals. Powers reported that members of the planning commission have been making revisions to the bylaws since July 2024, “with the valuable assistance of William Goodwin, zoning administrator.”
“Items that people of the town have been objecting to have been removed,” Powers continued, adding that clarifications have been made to sections that the state requires and therefore could not be removed. He reported that definitions have been added, and language of the bylaws themselves have been updated.
A summary of the changes can be found in the first two pages of the report, included with the eighth draft of the bylaws, which were approved by planning commission on April 27.
Some of the amendments to the bylaws were discussed by Powers. With input from the housing commission, the number of days that nonpaying guests can stay on a property have increased. The shopping plaza is allowed one large sign, and a smaller sign for each corresponding business. The boundary of the conservation district was raised to 2,000 feet.
The selectboard moved to approve and warn a public hearing for the proposed amendments to the bylaws on July 6, at 6 p.m., at the town office.
Town Administrator Aileen Tulloch announced that treasurer Tina Labeau has initiated tax sales. Tulloch also reported that Doings in Derry would like photograph submissions of the community to upload to the town website, and that the Chester Snowmobile Club sent a thank-you note to the town and will be hosting a community barbecue on June 7, in Chester.
Matthew Barlow from Turning Point of Windham County then spoke to the board about their peer recovery center. Barlow stated that they have a full center in Brattleboro, but the center understands that is not easily accessible to those in the greater Londonderry community. Turning Point is looking to spread awareness about their recovery services, and are seeking spaces in Londonderry or Townshend in which to set up and expand their resources.
Town Clerk Allison Marino moved to discuss the malfunctioning alarm system at the town office, and suggested switching the town’s provider. Currently, Countryside Alarms is servicing the building, but an issue with the alarms sounding has not been resolved in a year. Marino believed there were some redundancies in the system setup that could be eliminated and thought the town could get a cheaper and updated alarm service.
The board then moved to close the Prouty property to the public once construction on site begins.
The Londonderry Selectboard meets on the first and third Mondays of the month, at 6 p.m., at the town office and on Zoom.
The Vermont Housing Finance Agency Board of Commissioners has awarded tax credits that will generate $28 million for developing 241 apartments, according to a community announcement.
The homes will serve low-income renters in seven communities across the state, according to the announcement.
Awards of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and state rental tax credits come as development costs and the demand for more affordable housing rise, according to the announcement. Since 2020, the cost to develop an affordable apartment and the number of Vermonters experiencing homelessness have both doubled, according to the announcement.
Competition for tax credits among developers is strong and the criteria for awards is rigorous, according to the announcement.
Three projects will receive $26 million for development costs.
- Highgate Village Housing in Highgate will create 30 apartments. Construction will begin in June 2027 with move-in starting in August 2028. The developer is Cathedral Square Corporation.
- Champlain Housing Trust and Evernorth are developing the Park Street Apartments in Winooski, which will have 24 units. The site is considered a brownfield and will be cleaned to state standards prior to construction. Occupancy is estimated for 2028.
- Twin Pines Housing Trust and Evernorth are developing the Sykes Mountain Apartments in White River Junction, which will have 48 units. Move-in is expected in December 2027.
Four additional development projects will receive an estimated $1.9 million from a state rental tax credit program for development costs.
- Cornerstone Housing Partners and Evernorth are working on the Arlington Village Center, which will have 30 apartments. The project involves the preservation and rehabilitation of 29 existing apartments and the construction of one new apartment across 11 buildings.
- RuralEdge and Evernorth are rehabilitating the Caledonia Renaissance Apartments in St. Johnsbury, which will have 18 units. The project will preserve 18 affordable apartments across five buildings.
- Cathedral Square Corporation and Evernorth are working on the Round Barn project in Grand Isle, which will have 24 units. The project involves the rehabilitation and construction of 24 apartments for aging people in two buildings.
- Jonathan Rose, Ride Your Bike and Champlain Housing Trust are developing the Ride Your Bike Building in Burlington, which will have 67 units. The project is part of a larger 240-plus housing development and is the first phase of a master plan for a currently underutilized parking lot.
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
ORWELL, Vt. (WCAX) – Bud Carpenter is about to take a trip down memory lane.
“Heading to Poultney,” Carpenter said.
The ride there is dotted with silos, with many of the barns he built. “This is one of our buildings here; there’s one over there,” Carpenter points out. And then there’s a building in Orwell.
“That post office over… we built that in the early 70s,” Carpenter said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Have you figured out how many buildings you’ve built through the years?
Bud Carpenter: You know, I thought about that a lot; I really haven’t.
Bud Carpenter Incorporated, or BCI, started on a “wing and a prayer.” “I just started working, I’d do anything, I’d wash windows, I would paint. I’d even cut meat in the store,” he said. “My first year in business in 1965, I grossed $3,600… Somehow, we made it all work; I don’t know how.
With hard work came jobs and some mistakes. “I’ve done a lot of foolish things,” Carpenter said. “Like get into the used car business.”
Reporter Joe Carroll: How did you have the time to do all of this?
Bud Carpenter: I ask myself a hundred times.
There are massive cow barns to small horse barns, like one in Poultney. “We just did this one last year,” Carpenter said.
With a bum knee and a pacemaker, the 83-year-old no longer works on site.
“He’s a barn building legend!” said Todd Boutwell, Carpenter’s son-in-law, who took over running the day-to-day operations last year. “He’s still there, every day.”
“I like to come out to all of them, I’m on all of them, one time or another, yeah,” Carpenter said.
Back on the road, the conversation turns personal. “I think the hardest part is when I went through a divorce. I had problems with my wife, and we divorced, that’s probably the hardest thing I did,” Carpenter said. “And that’s having to go back on my word… When you get married, you take your vows.”
He has since remarried. Beth and Bud have been together for decades.
And then there was the heavy drinking. “I worked hard, and I drank hard,” Carpenter said. “But I never missed a day of work in my life.”
The drinking has been cut significantly. His recollections of what he’s done are numerous. “You get a little choked up at times on it, everywhere you go, you see things you’ve done: It makes you proud,” he said.
A journey that continues.
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